None of this was in the baby books. There were no directions on how to move your first born into college... during a pandemic. I‘ve experienced such a range of emotions over the past few days. I’m so exhausted and I still have two children at home to parent.
It’s tricky to have the emotions of one being gone and the others here. I’m trying my best to allow for my own emotions while also helping to support the girls through theirs.
We’ve tried our best to run through the usual experiences of sending a child to school but, honestly, it wasn’t really possible. All the talks of “be safe, don’t party too hard or drink too much” turned into “don’t go to any parties at all. Stay six feet away from everyone”.
The packing list included thermometers and medicine and so. Many. Masks. Some parents packed a quarantine survival bag to survive the inevitable on campus quarantine with a positive test. Neither Connor nor I could bring ourselves to pack that for him. It felt too... real.
Lessons of on campus safety now include things like safe hand washing, social distancing, mask wearing, and how to check for symptoms.
The tour around school (one we’ve never seen due to the pandemic) included things like “there’s where my classes would be if we weren’t online”. We looked into lots of windows and imagined what it all would look like.
He’s needing to ask where he can take his ballet and voice classes since he obviously doesn’t have room in his bedroom. Needing to navigate the space to take his classes and how to organize it all digitally is a lot to ask an 18 year old.
We promised him we would see him at parents’ weekend, all the while knowing there could be quarantine rules in effect which will prevent a visit or, alternatively, we will need to go pick him up before that when the school shuts down.
It’s hard enough to send your baby away, but it feels earth shattering to do it surrounded by so much unknown. I have to trust that he is going to make all the safe choices, but I even more need to hope that people around him will do the same.
I hope he has an amazing experience, for however long it lasts. 
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